Debates, activities teach youth council members politics

SALT LAKE CITY — A group of Utah teenagers tackled some tough issues Wednesday. They voted down a city ordinance to ban idling car engines but remained divided over a measure to ban all cellphone use while driving.

In the process, the 550 teens from 35 youth councils learned about how laws are made  by hearing from lawmakers and watching them in action. The day's events were part of Local Officials' Day at the Legislature, sponsored each year by the Utah League of Cities and Towns.

Megan Ryan, a land use consultant with ULCT, helped organize the mock city council that heard from witnesses and members of the public (about 150 teenagers) who debated the engine idling ban.

"We're trying to foster the future generation to become politicians," Ryan said.

Alex Arave, of the Clearfield youth council, rose to speak against the ordinance. "I oppose this bill because I think the government shouldn't control so many things," she said.

That philosophy seemed popular among the teens. Others expressed concerns about the confusing nature of the proposed ordinance's many exceptions as well as the difficulty of enforcing it.

The youthful future civic leaders, coming from cities as widely scattered as Nibley, Richfield, Hurricane and Vernal, seemed a bit more conservative than the Salt Lake City Council, which passed a similar ordinance in October.

Acting as the mayor, Amber Seidel, also of Clearfield, called for a motion to pass the bill. It failed, 4-3.

Another 400 teens in two other mock councils debated whether to ban cellphone use in vehicles. One group gave the idea thumbs up, the other thumbs down.

Seidel may be a good example of the future leaders the league is trying to reach. As a member of the Clearfield Youth City Council, she participates in many service projects, including a "world's longest basketball game" to raise funds for the Fallen Hero Scholarship Foundation.

"It was really fun to go and just volunteer for that," she said.

When she was 5 years old, Seidel changed her life goal from being a ballerina to becoming president, she said. Now she wants to be a high school history and political science teacher and then run for office. And, maybe, become president.

Her first exposure to the rough and tumble world of politics came when she organized a petition drive to get the real Clearfield City Council to ban what she felt was a lingerie shop's inappropriate window display. The effort even attracted the attention of a nearby newspaper, she said, which strongly opposed the effort as "censorship."

But when the chance to be on the city's youth council came up, her friends asked her, "Hey, why don't you do that?" She did.

Seidel said the experience has shown her "how much our city controls, but how limited it is in how much it can do" by the requirements of federal, state and county governments.

E-mail: lbrubaker@desnews.com